in a marshy district, called Maremne, on condition of their cultivating it. About a thousand siccate of land were taken by the Jews for the purpose of colonization, near the town of Follonica, and nearly 300 labourers employed in clearing away brushwood, trees, &c. It was proposed to divide the district into twelve podère or separate estates, and erect a villa, or fattoria, to superintend the whole." The Jewish schoolmaster at Leghorn informed us that this project had not succeeded, and that very few Jews had offered to settle there. It seems vain to try to plant Israel any where till they be planted again upon their own land.* There are occasionally conversions to Popery among them from interested views. But about three years ago, there occurred a sincere and somewhat singular conversion. A Jew of influence and education declared that he was led to embrace Christianity in a manner that resembles Dr. Cappadose's account of his change. He immediately renounced the world, and is now in a monastery at Sienna, where he occasionally preaches. On the forenoon of Monday (April 29), we visited an Eastern Rabbi, named Bolaffi, whose acquaintance we had made on Saturday. He was seated on a sofa in the Eastern fashion. His dress was that of the East-his appearance imposing, and his action and elocution were very striking. We found him frank, intelligent, and learned. He liked better, however, to speak on general subjects than on religion; but at length did enter into some religious discussion. We spoke of the nature of Messiah. Bolaffi said, "He is to be a king, and a prophet, but not a priest." We quoted Psalm cx. He denied that to be spoken of Messiah; and thought that David was meant. We maintained his divine nature, and among other passages quoted Isaiah ix. 6. He admitted that the rendering "Mighty God" was justified by the Hebrew, but evaded the application, by bidding us notice that the Prophet says only, he shall be "named" so. He argued that the Protestants ought to return to the observance of the seventh day as their Sabbath, because the change was an act of the Romish Church. We came back to more vital questions, and referred to Psalm li., "Purge me with hyssop." He got away from this by turning his remarks to (ruach), "Spirit," arguing that the word applied even to beasts. As to the way of par ⚫ Amos ix. 15 26 LEGHORN--JEWISH LIBRARY AND SCHOOL. don, he maintained that repentance was all that was needed, quoting 2d Samuel, where David said, "I have sinned," and Nathan answered, "The Lord hath put away thy sin."* He had read the New Testament, and his knowledge of it enabled him to object that Christ was not Prince of peace, because he himself says, “I am not come to send peace, but a sword." He contended that the Sabbath should be so kept that a fire ought not to be lighted on that day even in Siberia. At parting, he said, "Christians shut us out of Paradise, but we think that all who do good works may enter, whether they be Catholics, Mahometans, or Protestants." Each of us in turn had joined in the conversation; but Dr. Black was the chief speaker, being able to use the Italian language very fluently. We left him and went to see the Jews' Library. Several volumes lay open on the table, and many Jews were in the room. Those present vied with each other in showing us Hebrew works upon geography, mathematics, and the sciences. They brought out a Hebrew copy of Euclid, and a Hebrew translation of Philo, and said that they had Josephus also translated into Hebrew. When we had taken a sufficient survey of their books, they led us to their School-a large, commodious building. The classes are arranged after the Lancasterian plan, and there is a regular gradation from those learning the letters and the sound of the vowel-points, to those who translate Hebrew into Italian. There are masters to teach drawing, music, history, geography, and writing. English and French are given in the upper classes. Each teacher has a large black board, and the alphabet, syllables, vowel-points, and short sentences are taught from large sheets hung up on the wall, exactly as in our own schools. We found 180 Jewish boys and 80 girls attending the school, all educated free of expense. The advanced boys and girls translated Italian into Hebrew, and vice versa, in our presence with great fluency. The young men in the Talmudical class read and translated the 1st chapter of Isaiah with Aben Ezra's Commentary.† Next day we paid Rabbi Bolaffi a second visit. He was affable and polite as before. Six or eight Jews were present in the room. One of us happening to sneeze, he immediately exclaimed, "Santa!" and another Jew "Fe 2 Sam. xii. 13. + See Appendix, No. I. RABBIS BOLAFFI AND PIPERNO. 27 liciti!" that is, good luck. After a few remarks on a book which he had in his hand, he stated some of the objections he had to the New Testament. They were such as these:-Paul advised a man to remain in the religion wherein he was found, whereas he himself circumcised Timothy, contrary to his own advice. And again, Timothy's mother could not have been a pious woman, for she had married a heathen. He told us he had himself written against Voltaire's works; and brought out a map to show us the absurdity involved in Voltaire's hypothesis of Israel crossing the Red Sea at low tide. His map and his argument were alike curious. We brought him back to the great question. He argued that a man is free in his will, otherwise he could not be judged for sin; and asserted, as before, that repentance is the method of procuring pardon, referring to God's promise, that as soon as the seed of Israel repent He will bring them home. Another of his objections to the New Testament was, that " First-born" and "Son," to which terms much importance is there attached, are no more than names of affection among the Jews. He understood Zechariah's words, "The man that is my fellow," in the same sense; and Micah v. 2, as proving no more than that Messiah was to be of David's line. We said, "He has come of that line." "No; even the New Testament does not say that Christ's genealogy can be traced to David; it only gives Joseph's line." "The genealogies were fully known in Christ's time, and publicly appealed to by the Evangelists. Are there any in existence now?" "Yes; there are some who know their genealogy." "Are there any of the line of David now known?" He replied with a look of dignity, “Io sono"-" I am one." Thus ended our interview with this interesting man. He is a fine example of the Jewish Rabbi; a subtle sophist in argument,-deeply read in the literature of the Hebrews, yet so ignorant of general knowledge, that he soberly estimated his nation now scattered through the earth at thirty millions. After leaving him we sent for his acceptance several tracts, such as "The City of Refuge," and "The Life of Cappadose," along with the Italian edition of Dr. Keith's work on Prophecy. In the evening we returned to the library to meet a polite, active, young Rabbi, Abraham Piperno. He showed us a copy of Elias Levita, dated 1541, and Zemach David. He brought out a Hebrew copy of 28 LEGHORN-JEWISH BURYING GROUND. Euclid; and a Hebrew Encyclopædia in five volumes, some of its articles written by himself. He told us that they have three printing presses in Leghorn. In the course of conversation, we spoke of Isaiah liii., and Daniel ix. His answers were very brief, and consisted of little more than a reference to what we would find in a book called “nues pın” (hizzak emunah), “ Defence of the Faith." He believes in the restoration of Israel to their own land. He was not aware of any Jews from Leghorn having gone to Palestine; but Chancellor Uzzielli afterwards told us, that occasionally some of the poor and illiterate do so to die there, believing that thus they shall escape purgatory. Returning to the hotel, another Jew, a teacher of music, waited upon us, bringing with him a servant, who carried for his master a heavy MS. It turned out to be a work written by himself against Voltaire and Volney. We soon began to see that he had some selfish object in view, and that he was more anxious to sell his MS. than to buy the truth as it is in Jesus. Next morning we visited a rich merchant, named Abodram, from Spain, with whom and his family, Mr. Neat, once Jewish missionary here, had been on friendly terms. He had heard of our discussion with the Rabbi, which had indeed made a stir throughout the Jewish quarter. He received us politely, and accepted a Spanish copy of Dr. Keith's work, but did not seem to care much about the object of our journey. We then proceeded to the Jewish burying-ground, " (beth hahaim), “house of the living," as we found written over the gate. It is large and extensive, and requires to be so, for it is considered unlawful to lay two dead bodies in the same grave. It is a bare, level enclosure; no cypresses wave over the tombs; a few goats were skipping through the grass. The Jews are compelled by law to bury their dead either in the morning, or at night by torch-light. The older part of the burying-ground, lying toward the west, is full of tombstones, bearing Spanish inscriptions, for the Jews of Leghorn came originally from Spain. With some natural pride, they point out not a few of these monuments having a coronet graved upon them, which they believe to be the tombs of those among their brethren who were Spanish nobles. Upon some of the tombs are carved hands spread out to bless-marking the grave JEWISH BURYING-GROUND. 29 of a priest; upon others a hand pouring water out of a cup-marking the grave of a Levite. At the head of almost every gravestone are these expressive letters, nasan, that is, "Let his soul be bound up in the bundle of life." Some of the monuments are truncated pillars, which are intended to point out the grave of a young man cut off in his vigour. One Italian inscription runs thus: UN VERO SAGGIO DELLA GIOVENTU DELLA POVERTA FORTE SOSTEGNO ISACCO FRANCHETTI QUI RIPOSA. O GENTI, PIANGETE LO, IMITATE LO. MORE DI A. LXX. IL DE XXX APRILE i. e. one truly wise, the firm stay On the other side, the Hebrew begins thus: "This is the peaceful rest of Signore Isaac Franchetti," &c. On another grave at the east end of the buryingground, are these simple words in Hebrew: "Funeral Pillar. The pleasant girl of Signora Reigna Andricas, a child of 12 years of age, died," &c. Another epitaph, probably over a rabbi, runs thus: נודו על חכמה אשר אבדה נודו עלי תורה כגוש עפר נודו עלי אור אשר חשך "Lament over wisdom, which is perished; Lament over the law, which is a clod of dust; Lament over light, which is darkened," &c. In our way home, an opportunity occurred of calling upon a Rabbi from Barbary, who had a large collection of Hebrew books. Most of them were commentaries of obscure Jews, and not in good condition. His wife wore the high, sugar-loaf cap peculiar to the Barbary Jewesses. The Jew who accompanied us showed us a |